Hey everyone, my amazing mentor Tim Marks is a master at studying cds and making notes from them. In that spirit, I Thought I would post my own notes from his incredible talk in California. This is such a powerful follow up to Chris Brady's talk, the Checkpoint Race. I hope these notes are of value to you, and inspire you to do the same with the cds that influence you!

Tim Marks Commit To Your Business

· Most people ask me, “How do you close people?”· The close actually happens during the entire plan. You can’t close someone who doesn’t like you. You can’t close someone who doesn’t know or care what you do because they smelled your bad breath.· All the details of showing the plan are in the CD packs and page 71 in the LIFE Textbook teach this information· I believe this to be true: 50% of your sponsoring rate is determined by the contact. That’s your first impression. If it doesn’t go well, you are fighting an uphill battle building credibility· Contact the way the textbook teaches. Over the telephone· Remember: Be Bright, Be Brief, Be Gone· When I got started, I printed up flyers to attend the meeting. That doesn’t work! Follow the script. (But don’t read like a robot.)· Be fired up! Chase your dream and hang around moving-on people. · Stay away from phrases like, “My wife and I started a business,” “This is something we are trying,” “· Get Orrin Woodwards cd, “Posture with Prospects”· 3rd party contacting. If that’s a normal part of your pattern, BE WARNED. That’s not what Tim Marks focused on to build the business. The prospect thinks, “If this business is that good, how come my friend didn’t call me about it?” That might come across as lack of posture.· Most people are waaaaaaaaaaaay too heavy on the science side of the business, (mechanics) versus the art side of the business (people skills which require discernment.)· If you are melancholy and hung up on wanting to show the details, you probably don’t like the prospect getting excited and interrupting you.· Get to know them by asking questions and make a friend. Back off on the science and focus on the art side.· The setting: when you show the plan, the best place to show the plan is AT THEIR HOME. When you get the plan booked, you might say, “So, what’s your address? I’ll just plug it into my phone.” If someone isn’t comfortable with that, meet them at a neurtral place like a coffee shop.· People are more likely to make a quality decision at their home. Also, you get to know them better because you see their family photos and can pick up on their hobbies and interests.· If you just show the husband, you have added a second step to your pattern. You now have to show a SECOND plan. “Hey, is Sally going to be there? Amy will be joining me.”· Dress code: Orrin Woodward was pretty hard core about this. Wear a dark suit, light shirt, and a red/blue /yellow tie. There is a reason you wear that kind of suit. It’s the least offensive, doesn’t draw attention, and we don’t have to be a fashion expert. If you look at politicians (perhaps a bad example,) their job is supposedly to relate to the most number of people. News casters are another good example. Be clean shaven with no earrings.· You don’t need an expensive suit. I built the business in ONE $78 suit until we were Senior Coordinator w. 4 legs.· Some people might say, “I am more comfortable in a golf shirt.” Perhaps, but I had a 95% sponsoring ratio because I stacked the deck in my favor with every detail I could. I dress up and look professional even at a one on one.· If you think, “My friends will think I’m weird for wearing a suit,” fantastic! We want them to think you are treating this seriously.· Perhaps you can wear a dirty shirt with a spaghetti stain on it. I couldn’t! · Smile! It’s the most disarming thing, but tough to do for cholerics.· Be interested and impressed with THEM. Don’t try to act impressive or interesting.· Their favorite word in the English language is their NAME.· You might say everything right, but if they don’t like you, they won’t join your team.· Know your audience and ask them questions about themselves.· 10% of people are choleric, 30% are sanguine, 35% are melancholy, and 25% are phlegmatic. So, you won’t relate to everyone. Cholerics, if you are showing the plan to a melancholy, be nice. Let them ask a few questions.· “So, what do you do? How long have you been doing that?” Stay away from yes/no answers. Try to draw them out. “Is this your honeymoon picture? Where did you go…. Maui?”· You are trying to make THEM like YOU. Don’t try to be impressive. “Where did you guys meet at? Where did you go to highschool? What sport did you play in highschool? What position.· I want to be their friend as long as I can in the meeting until I need to show the plan.· These questions are easy if you do it all the time.· I was just talking to a choleric/melancholy on your team trying to teach these skills. I was explaining it will allow you to build your business faster, help people and have more friends.· So I asked him, “So tell me about the last 10 levels of depth and how you uplifted them? What do you know about them?”· This guy has done between 6-8 meetings with them, had coffee with them, and he was telling me very surface details that I could learn about them standing in line at Starbucks.· Do they have a dog? Are the parents still alive? How many kids do you have? · This takes some discernment, but people won’t be as close to you until you get to know them.· Use their name 3-4 times in conversation.· The average plan shower wants the prospect to stop talking about themselves. If you aren’tInterested in their story, they will feel it.· “You know, I’m glad we got to spend some time here tonight, so I could get to know you. Chris spoke very highly of you about your success in your business, etc. I just want to spin through some details really quick here. I think you’ll see why most people we sit down with say, ‘Hey, this makes sense, I want to get started right away.’ So let’s just go through a couple of things.” · I quickly go through Cashflow Quadrant, Dell’s 3 C’s, team approach – BOOM. We’re done. That’s it. Because the prospect talked for 45 minutes about what he loved. Perfect!· If people like us, if we have related to them, they are more likely to believe they can do this business. They are more likely to sign the application, listen to the cds, go to the open, commit to their dream, sacrifice and make the drive and come to the leadership convention.· You call your upline and say,

8]o “Whooooo hooo! Got the application! Signed one more up! And this guy; he says he’s going to do it!”

8]o And your upline asks, “Is he here at the seminar or major this weekend?”

8]o “Well, what about scuba diving? It’s obviously important to him.” What do you know about scuba diving? You’d better become Jaques Cousteau right away. You’d better figure why scuba diving is important to this guy. THEN, you are on what John Maxwell calls, The Law of Common Ground. Now you can talk about things he likes and you can start to have influence in his life.

· Maybe he was teaching scuba diving to people who had cancer and only had two months left to live. Would you feel differently about him not being there? Probably, but you wouldn’t know that because you didn’t take the time to get to know them and learn about them. Sometimes people don’t come to events, and you have to be compassionate towards their personal circutmstances. · If they feel I reject them as a friend (by getting upset if they don’t attend an event) they won’t want to do business with me.· This is a business where you HAVE to have tight relationships if you’re going to build a big team. It’s not an option. I have seen it over and over: If you try to build this and not have TRUE friends, it just won’t take off. If your team isn’t growing, sometimes you need to stop looking outside yourself and blaming others for being non-committed and focus on growing your warmth and ability in friendship.· One question I love to ask my choleric buddies is, “Who’s your BEST friend? Outside of your wife, and outside of anyone in the business, who is your BEST friend?” Usually, I get a very lukewarm answer. “Well, I shared my lunch with a guy in 3rd grade. But, I ended up beating him up.”· Cholerics usually have great posture. But if you are using great posture on someone who doesn’t like you, the affect is usually quite damaging. · If you don’t link with them emotionally, when it comes time to ask them for their dream, you might as well be asking, “So! What color underwear do you have on today?!” It’s just WEIRD!· If you complain that people won’t GIVE you their dream, or GIVE you their names list… well, I wouldn’t either! (“Gimme, gimme, gimme.”) If they like you, they will freely give.· The cool thing about being nice all the time to people: you don’t need to remember all the [people skills] techniques. Just be the same nice person all the time to everyone. Smile. Be interested.· Handle their objections in the plan. They will listen if they like you. Don’t ARGUE with them. Don’t say, “You calling this business a pyramid?! Oh yeah, well… You probably work in a PYRAMID!”· If you go 48 deep this week, and can’t answer who of them is at the open… that’s not good!· The most common objections are:

8]o Is it a pyramid?

8]o I don’t have time.

8]o I don’t have the money

8]o I need to talk to spouse

8]o Need more info.

· Just put the handling of the objections IN YOUR PLAN. Say something like, “It’s kind of funny; I was talking to a guy the other day, and I was just sharing this info with him… I mean, it’s pretty simple stuff. It looks like you’re clicking with it. I mean, you’re a sharp guy – you’re getting it. (I am edifying the prospect.) It’s $99, a tank of gas, and this other guy says, ‘Well, I need to talk to my wife about this – it’s a pretty big investment.’ I got to thinking that was funny, isn’t it? I mean, I wonder if he calls his wife and asks if he can fill up the car with $99 of gasoline. Isn’t that funny?” So, you and your prospect LAUGH about that other guy who couldn’t make a decision about $99. Now, he can’t come back later and say he needs to talk to his wife.· To a melancholy to needs more information: “This other day, a prospect looked all perplexed and said, ‘Well, I just need to think about it; I need more information.’ And it dawned on me that most of us start our careers by going to college, and we hardly have ANY information at all about that experience! Someone said to go to college, so we do, and it’s one of the best experiences ever! What I was trying to do was GIVE him the information so that he could make a quality decision about doing the business. We are going to be building a team under you and building market share. You can decide if you want to KEEP that team, keep that market share, or we’ll give it to somebody else. I will give you your money back and buy you a Big Mac for your time. For some reason, the guy was all hung up over $99. If you put those things in your plan, (and you don’t need to overcome every objection,) you’ll get better results.· If we do a real survey of how many people get started for money, versus how many people want to get started to have a better marriage, most everyone get started because they want to get their dreams and make money.· Show them you are going to build the business with them.· $99 is not a big deal.· Re-read Zig Ziglar’s book [Secrets of Closing the Sale, in the Top 50] and Frank Bettgers book [How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling] and these techniques won’t do you any good until people relate to you. So, get the Top 5 books and pound through them over and over again, and sell them on the fact that you are capable and willing to help them get their dreams through the LIFE Leadership business.

Hey everyone, my amazing mentor Tim Marks is a master at studying cds and making notes from them. In that spirit, I Thought I would post my own notes from his incredible talk in California. This is such a powerful follow up to Chris Brady's talk, the Checkpoint Race. I hope these notes are of value to you, and inspire you to do the same with the cds that influence you!

Tim Marks Commit To Your Business

· Most people ask me, “How do you close people?”· The close actually happens during the entire plan. You can’t close someone who doesn’t like you. You can’t close someone who doesn’t know or care what you do because they smelled your bad breath.· All the details of showing the plan are in the CD packs and page 71 in the LIFE Textbook teach this information· I believe this to be true: 50% of your sponsoring rate is determined by the contact. That’s your first impression. If it doesn’t go well, you are fighting an uphill battle building credibility· Contact the way the textbook teaches. Over the telephone· Remember: Be Bright, Be Brief, Be Gone· When I got started, I printed up flyers to attend the meeting. That doesn’t work! Follow the script. (But don’t read like a robot.)· Be fired up! Chase your dream and hang around moving-on people.· Stay away from phrases like, “My wife and I started a business,” “This is something we are trying,” “· Get Orrin Woodwards cd, “Posture with Prospects”· 3rd party contacting. If that’s a normal part of your pattern, BE WARNED. That’s not what Tim Marks focused on to build the business. The prospect thinks, “If this business is that good, how come my friend didn’t call me about it?” That might come across as lack of posture.· Most people are waaaaaaaaaaaay too heavy on the science side of the business, (mechanics) versus the art side of the business (people skills which require discernment.)· If you are melancholy and hung up on wanting to show the details, you probably don’t like the prospect getting excited and interrupting you.· Get to know them by asking questions and make a friend. Back off on the science and focus on the art side.· The setting: when you show the plan, the best place to show the plan is AT THEIR HOME. When you get the plan booked, you might say, “So, what’s your address? I’ll just plug it into my phone.” If someone isn’t comfortable with that, meet them at a neurtral place like a coffee shop.· People are more likely to make a quality decision at their home. Also, you get to know them better because you see their family photos and can pick up on their hobbies and interests.· If you just show the husband, you have added a second step to your pattern. You now have to show a SECOND plan. “Hey, is Sally going to be there? Amy will be joining me.”· Dress code: Orrin Woodward was pretty hard core about this. Wear a dark suit, light shirt, and a red/blue /yellow tie. There is a reason you wear that kind of suit. It’s the least offensive, doesn’t draw attention, and we don’t have to be a fashion expert. If you look at politicians (perhaps a bad example,) their job is supposedly to relate to the most number of people. News casters are another good example. Be clean shaven with no earrings.· You don’t need an expensive suit. I built the business in ONE $78 suit until we were Senior Coordinator w. 4 legs.· Some people might say, “I am more comfortable in a golf shirt.” Perhaps, but I had a 95% sponsoring ratio because I stacked the deck in my favor with every detail I could. I dress up and look professional even at a one on one.· If you think, “My friends will think I’m weird for wearing a suit,” fantastic! We want them to think you are treating this seriously.· Perhaps you can wear a dirty shirt with a spaghetti stain on it. I couldn’t!· Smile! It’s the most disarming thing, but tough to do for cholerics.· Be interested and impressed with THEM. Don’t try to act impressive or interesting.· Their favorite word in the English language is their NAME.· You might say everything right, but if they don’t like you, they won’t join your team.· Know your audience and ask them questions about themselves.· 10% of people are choleric, 30% are sanguine, 35% are melancholy, and 25% are phlegmatic. So, you won’t relate to everyone. Cholerics, if you are showing the plan to a melancholy, be nice. Let them ask a few questions.· “So, what do you do? How long have you been doing that?” Stay away from yes/no answers. Try to draw them out. “Is this your honeymoon picture? Where did you go…. Maui?”· You are trying to make THEM like YOU. Don’t try to be impressive. “Where did you guys meet at? Where did you go to highschool? What sport did you play in highschool? What position.· I want to be their friend as long as I can in the meeting until I need to show the plan.· These questions are easy if you do it all the time.· I was just talking to a choleric/melancholy on your team trying to teach these skills. I was explaining it will allow you to build your business faster, help people and have more friends.· So I asked him, “So tell me about the last 10 levels of depth and how you uplifted them? What do you know about them?”· This guy has done between 6-8 meetings with them, had coffee with them, and he was telling me very surface details that I could learn about them standing in line at Starbucks.· Do they have a dog? Are the parents still alive? How many kids do you have?· This takes some discernment, but people won’t be as close to you until you get to know them.· Use their name 3-4 times in conversation.· The average plan shower wants the prospect to stop talking about themselves. If you aren’t
Interested in their story, they will feel it.· “You know, I’m glad we got to spend some time here tonight, so I could get to know you. Chris spoke very highly of you about your success in your business, etc. I just want to spin through some details really quick here. I think you’ll see why most people we sit down with say, ‘Hey, this makes sense, I want to get started right away.’ So let’s just go through a couple of things.”· I quickly go through Cashflow Quadrant, Dell’s 3 C’s, team approach – BOOM. We’re done. That’s it. Because the prospect talked for 45 minutes about what he loved. Perfect!· If people like us, if we have related to them, they are more likely to believe they can do this business. They are more likely to sign the application, listen to the cds, go to the open, commit to their dream, sacrifice and make the drive and come to the leadership convention.· You call your upline and say,

8]o “Whooooo hooo! Got the application! Signed one more up! And this guy; he says he’s going to do it!”

8]o And your upline asks, “Is he here at the seminar or major this weekend?”

8]o “Well, what about scuba diving? It’s obviously important to him.” What do you know about scuba diving? You’d better become Jaques Cousteau right away. You’d better figure why scuba diving is important to this guy. THEN, you are on what John Maxwell calls, The Law of Common Ground. Now you can talk about things he likes and you can start to have influence in his life.

· Maybe he was teaching scuba diving to people who had cancer and only had two months left to live. Would you feel differently about him not being there? Probably, but you wouldn’t know that because you didn’t take the time to get to know them and learn about them. Sometimes people don’t come to events, and you have to be compassionate towards their personal circutmstances.· If they feel I reject them as a friend (by getting upset if they don’t attend an event) they won’t want to do business with me.· This is a business where you HAVE to have tight relationships if you’re going to build a big team. It’s not an option. I have seen it over and over: If you try to build this and not have TRUE friends, it just won’t take off. If your team isn’t growing, sometimes you need to stop looking outside yourself and blaming others for being non-committed and focus on growing your warmth and ability in friendship.· One question I love to ask my choleric buddies is, “Who’s your BEST friend? Outside of your wife, and outside of anyone in the business, who is your BEST friend?” Usually, I get a very lukewarm answer. “Well, I shared my lunch with a guy in 3rd grade. But, I ended up beating him up.”· Cholerics usually have great posture. But if you are using great posture on someone who doesn’t like you, the affect is usually quite damaging.· If you don’t link with them emotionally, when it comes time to ask them for their dream, you might as well be asking, “So! What color underwear do you have on today?!” It’s just WEIRD!· If you complain that people won’t GIVE you their dream, or GIVE you their names list… well, I wouldn’t either! (“Gimme, gimme, gimme.”) If they like you, they will freely give.· The cool thing about being nice all the time to people: you don’t need to remember all the [people skills] techniques. Just be the same nice person all the time to everyone. Smile. Be interested.· Handle their objections in the plan. They will listen if they like you. Don’t ARGUE with them. Don’t say, “You calling this business a pyramid?! Oh yeah, well… You probably work in a PYRAMID!”· If you go 48 deep this week, and can’t answer who of them is at the open… that’s not good!· The most common objections are:

8]o Is it a pyramid?

8]o I don’t have time.

8]o I don’t have the money

8]o I need to talk to spouse

8]o Need more info.

· Just put the handling of the objections IN YOUR PLAN. Say something like, “It’s kind of funny; I was talking to a guy the other day, and I was just sharing this info with him… I mean, it’s pretty simple stuff. It looks like you’re clicking with it. I mean, you’re a sharp guy – you’re getting it. (I am edifying the prospect.) It’s $99, a tank of gas, and this other guy says, ‘Well, I need to talk to my wife about this – it’s a pretty big investment.’ I got to thinking that was funny, isn’t it? I mean, I wonder if he calls his wife and asks if he can fill up the car with $99 of gasoline. Isn’t that funny?” So, you and your prospect LAUGH about that other guy who couldn’t make a decision about $99. Now, he can’t come back later and say he needs to talk to his wife.· To a melancholy to needs more information: “This other day, a prospect looked all perplexed and said, ‘Well, I just need to think about it; I need more information.’ And it dawned on me that most of us start our careers by going to college, and we hardly have ANY information at all about that experience! Someone said to go to college, so we do, and it’s one of the best experiences ever! What I was trying to do was GIVE him the information so that he could make a quality decision about doing the business. We are going to be building a team under you and building market share. You can decide if you want to KEEP that team, keep that market share, or we’ll give it to somebody else. I will give you your money back and buy you a Big Mac for your time. For some reason, the guy was all hung up over $99. If you put those things in your plan, (and you don’t need to overcome every objection,) you’ll get better results.· If we do a real survey of how many people get started for money, versus how many people want to get started to have a better marriage, most everyone get started because they want to get their dreams and make money.· Show them you are going to build the business with them.· $99 is not a big deal.· Re-read Zig Ziglar’s book [Secrets of Closing the Sale, in the Top 50] and Frank Bettgers book [How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling] and these techniques won’t do you any good until people relate to you. So, get the Top 5 books and pound through them over and over again, and sell them on the fact that you are capable and willing to help them get their dreams through the LIFE Leadership business.

CJ, Thanks for sharing this treasure trove of wisdom! Every PBO needs to share this stat! It's time to get in in the living rooms and replace FB with Life Forum learning! Merry Christmas! God Bless you and your communities!